Machine and process for conditioning a web of wool and other fibers



41 7 t 5 a on w 2% h S 2 G N NE Nov. 4, 1958 A, BOER MACHINE AND PROCESS FOR CONDI A WEB 0F WOOL AND OTHER FIB Filed Nov. 29. 1954 R 0 m w N I 1958 A. BQER 2,858,574

MACHINE AND PROCESS FOR commonmc A WEB 0F wooz. AND OTHER FIBERS 2 Sheets- Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 29, 1954 R 0 m m N I i l i l l l l l l 1 i United States Patent MACHINE AND PROCESS FOR CONDITIONING A WEB OF WOOL AND OTHER FIBERS Arpad Boer,

assignments, Montevideo,

Buenos Aires, Argentina, assignor, by mesne to Bancroft-Brillotex International S. A., Uruguay, a corporation of Uruguay Application November 29, 1954, Serial No. 471,854 6 Claims. (Cl. 19-130) can be obtained by subjecting a web of wool and other fibers to alternately arranged sets of fiber drafting and fiber subdividing rollers, wherein each roller of each set of subdividing rollers is provided with a plurality of ring-shaped blades encircling the rollers in a plane transverse to their longitudinal aXes, the ring-shaped blades of successive sets of subdividing rollers being more numerous and more closely spaced than those of the preceding sets of subdividing rollers and the ring-shaped blades of one roller of each set of subdividing rollers being staggered and intercalated with respect to the ringshaped blades of the other roller of that same set of rollers. In addition, one roller of each set of subdividing rollers has its ring-shaped blades arranged with one blade at each end of the roller with the remaining blades substantially equi-spaced therebetween along the roller and the other roller of that same set has its ring-shaped blades arranged with one blade inwardly of each end substantially between the first two end blades of the first roller and the remaining blades substantially equi-spaced therebetween along the roller. The veil of fibers which results has its individual fibers parallel and free of intertwining so that it can be converted directly into a thread and form a yarn with or without other threads.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a schematic side elevational view of a machine embodying the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary transverse view showing a set of fiber drafting rollers of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 of a set of fiber subdividing rollers of Fig. l; and

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the sets of alternating fiber drafting and fiber subdividing rollers showing how the randomly oriented fibers become parallelized and gathered to form a yarn.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, the sets of drafting rollers are designated a, b, c, d, e and f and the fiber subdividing and parallelizing sets of rollers are designated g, h, i, j and k. It will be observed that these sets of rollers are alternately arranged to form a series of sets of rollers. The direction of rotation of each roller is appropriately indicated in Fig. l by an arrow and any suitable or known means (not illustrated) is provided for driving the same in conventional manner. Each drafting roller has associated therewith a cleaning brush 1 to re- "ice move any adhered matter on the rollers. The drafting rollers are smooth surfaced as shown in Figs. 2 and 4.

Each fiber subdividing roller is provided with a plurality of spaced ring-shaped blades 2 encircling the roller in a plane transverse to its longitudinal axis. As will be noted from Fig. 4, in particular, the ring-shaped blades of succeeding sets of fiber subdividing rollers are more numerous and more closely spaced than those of preceding sets of fiber subdividing rollers and the ring-shaped blades of each such roller are substantially equi-spaced along the roller, being arranged, as will be best understood from Fig. 3, so that the ring-shaped blades of one roller of a set are staggered and intercalated with respect to the ring-shaped blades of the other roller of that same set of subdividing rollers. It will further be seen from Figs. 3 and 4 that one roller of each set of subdividing rollers has its ring-shaped blades arranged with one blade at each end of the roller with the remaining blades substantially equi-spaced therebetween along the roller and that the other roller of that same set has its ring-shaped blades arranged with one blade inwardly of each end substantially between the first two end blades of the first-named roller of that set and the remaining blades substantially equi-Spaced therebetween along the roller.

As the fibers pass through the machine, being fed thereto in web form by conveyor 5 at the entrance end of the machine, the fibers are alternately drafted and subdivided until they emerge as a thin veil 3 with the fibers thereof fully subdivided and oriented in the direction of travel through the machine. The veil is discharged by conveyor 4 and converted into a thread 3 in a manner per se known with the fibers longitudinally arranged in the thread.

The entire series of rollers is disposed under a cover or lid 6 and over a collecting receptacle 7 for particles or powder separated from the fibers during their processing. The receptacle 7 has sloping sides converging at collector 8 provided with a conveyor 9.

The invention thus comprises a machine constructed as described and a process for conditioning a web of wool or other fibers for the purposes set forth. It is to be understood that the foregoing is intended as illustrative since modifications as to details may be made without departing from the invention as defined by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A process for conditioning a web of wool and other textile fibers comprising dividing a band-type web of such fibers into a number of strips, drafting the strips while maintaining the fibers parallel to the direction of feed, subdividing such strips into strips of smaller cross-section,

drafting the sub-divided strips while maintaining the fibers in parallel orientation, again sub-dividing the subdivided strips successively alternating with their drafting so that the entire material is subdivided into a multiplicity cf f '(sitrips whose fibers remain parallel to the direction of 2. A process for conditioning a web of wool and other textile fibers comprising passing a band-type web of such fibers through a pair of rollers with circular blades to divide the band into strips, passing the fiber strips through a pair of rollers to draft the same and to arrange them longitudinally, passing the strips through a pair of rollers with a larger number of circular blades to sub-divide each such strip into a number of strips of reduced cross-section, passing the sub-divided strips again through a pair of rollers to draft them and to arrange the fibers parallel to the direction of feed and passing the sub-divided strips through a pair of rollers with a larger number of circular blades, such sub-division alternating with such drafting so that the entire material is subdivided into a multiplicity of strips whose fibers are oriented and arranged in the direction of feed.

3. A process for conditioning a web of wool and other textile fibers comprising passing a band-type web of such fibers through a pair of rollers to divide it into a number of strips, passing the strips through a pair of rollers to draft the strips and to arrange the fibers in a longitudinal direction, passing the strips again through a pair of rollers with a larger number of more closely spaced circular blades than the first rollers to sub-divide the strips into strips of smaller cross-section, passing the sub-divided strips through a pair of drafting rollers to arrange the fibers parallel to the direction of their movement, again passing the subdivided strips through a pair of rollers to' further increase the number of strips and further reduce their size, and alternately further drafting and sub-dividing the strips to obtain complete orientation of the fiber components thereof to form a fiber web Whose fibers are parallel to the direction of feed, and then forming such web into a' thread.

4. A machine for processing a web of wool andother textile fibers comprising a plurality of pairs of fiberdrafting rollers, the rollers of each pair being pressed against each other, a plurality of pairs of fiber-subdividing rollers provided with annular blades alternating between pairs of fiber-drafting rollers, the blades of one roller being tangent to the body of the other roller, each succeeding pair of fiber-subdividing rollers having a larger number of more closely spaced blades than the preceding pair to produce progressively greater fiber subdivision, each pair of drafting and sub-dividing rollers being provided with cleaning brush means and an enclosure for all such'pairs of rollers and said cleaning brush means.

5. A machine for processing a web of wool and other textile fibers which comprise alternately arranged sets of fiber drafting and fiber sub-dividing rollers, each roller of each set of sub-dividing rollers being provided with a plurality of spaced ring-shaped blades encircling the rollers in a plane transverse to the longitudinal axes of the rollers, the ring-shaped blades on each successive set of sub-dividing rollers being more numerous and more closely spaced than those on the preceding set of subdividing rollers and the ring-shaped blades of one roller of each set of sub-dividing rollers being staggered and intercalated with respect to the ring-shaped blades of the other roller of that same set of sub-dividing rollers.

6. A machine for processing a web of wool and other textile fibers in accordance with claim 5, in which one roller of each set of sub-dividing rollers has its ringshaped blades arranged with one blade at each end of the roller with the remaining blades substantially equi-spaced therebetween along the roller and the other roller of that same set has its ring-shaped blades arranged with one blade inwardly of each end substantially between the first two end blades of the first-named roller and the remaining blades substantially equi-spaced therebetween along the roller.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,055,630 McLean Sept. 29, 1936 2,127,410 Knowles Aug. 16, 1938 2,219,077 Pharo Oct. 22, 1940 2,422,980 Pharo June 24, 1947 2,633,608 Bodell Apr. 7, 1953 2,761,179 Lepoutre Sept. 4, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS 346,887 Great Britain Apr. 23, 1931 

